28. TWENTY EIGHT #3
“I want to live,” I muttered, my breath brushing against his ear.
I thought of him speaking to Seraphina and saying that he wanted to end me.
I needed him to know I wanted to live. I felt the muscle in his shoulder tense under my palm, a tensed jolt that told me my words landed.
If he was still planning to kill me, I wanted him to know that he was planning to kill someone who was desperate to live.
He didn’t pull away. Instead, he guided me to a turn so sharp it stole my breath, his body protecting mine from the rest of the room as if we were the only two people dancing our way through this cursed world .
Fionn’s grip on my waist tightened slightly, and his jaw clenched as he leaned in closer. He looked down at me, his expression unreadable.
“This curse doesn’t just break us-it turns us into monsters.”
I don’t know where the braveness came from. “That part I believe,” I said, absorbing his warning.
“The curse comes for us all, whether we want it or not.” Fionn’s jaw tightened, his movements stiff as we turned together. His voice was deliberately low “Are you still blocking them out?”
I faltered, the truth catching in my throat. “Yes,” I whispered.
His eyes darkened with a flicker of approval.
“Good. Hold the silence while you can. But if you don’t want to die like the others, then choose quickly and choose wisely.”
His words struck me like a blow, and for a moment, the usual storm in his eyes cleared, replaced by a hint of warmth.
The music reached its crescendo, the haunting melody spinning us around the room in a tragically beautiful dance. In that final sweeping turn the world outside Sternwacht ceased to exist. There were no stars, no Gods and no flipping prophecies. Only the heat of his hand on my waist.
Then Fionn did something he hadn’t done before.
His hand slid from my waist to the small of my back, pressing me closer and guiding me with a firmness that felt unexpectedly intimate.
It wasn’t like him. The sudden closeness startled me, and my step faltered, my foot catching clumsily against his.
At once his fingers tightened against my back, steadying me before I could lose the rhythm of the dance.
I felt the shift in the room as if they all seen it to. Fionn didn’t look at the others. But the faint curve of his mouth suggested he knew he had crossed the line.
When the music box wound down and the last note hung in the air, Cillian’s voice broke through the silence.
“Tilly. ”
His chair screeched across the floor as he stood up and stepped forward, his hand closing around my wrist.
“There is no music playing.”
His eyes flicked to Fionn, burning with barely restrained anger.
“And you,” he snapped, turning his focus fully on Fionn.
“What the hell are you doing? Encouraging this?”
She’s hearing things that aren’t real, and you are playing along. Tormenting her with her own make-believe.”
Then his grip tugged on my wrist. It wasn’t only possessive, it felt violent.
He yanked me toward him with a force that stole my breath, his fingers digging into my skin tearing me away from Fionn entirely.
I stumbled, my shoulder slamming into his chest, and instinctively I pulled back, but his hold only tightened.
“Let go,” I gasped.
He didn’t. He couldn’t.
His eyes were no longer caramel with hints of green, they had turned black.
Fionn moved instantly, stepping between us, his expression darkening.
“Cillian,” he warned, his voice low and lethal.
“Enough. If you truly want her companionship, brother, try to hide the hunger in your eyes. You reek of desperation.”
I looked at him in confusion.
“The sound is coming from the music box. Can’t you hear it?”
Cillian glanced over to where I was looking. “Tilly, there is no music box there. It’s all a phantom in your mind.”
I turned back to Fionn. “You hear it, don’t you?”
We had danced together in time to the music. Yet I knew his answer before he gave it. For the first time, I saw the sadness in his eyes as he nodded in disbelief.
“The sky’s serpent is in you, Tilly. It doesn’t knock. It doesn’t ask to come in. It enters quiet and cruel, and then it slowly takes over from within stealing everything from your mind. ”
Fionn’s expression hardened slightly.
“Now you understand.” He said quietly.
“Vareth’s curse is inside us all.”
The terrifying realization hit, I was dancing with my executioner and for a small quiet moment, I felt at peace.
The simmering music suddenly stopped, and I broke away, my movements fluid as I turned toward Cillian. His green eyes locked onto mine, anger simmering beneath the surface.
From the corner of the room, the sound of clapping broke through the silence.
“Bravo! A performance for Vareth himself!” Torin shouted, leaning back against the gilded mirror with an amusing grin.
“The human hears phantom music and the Commander dances to silence. I haven’t been this entertained since the other Orders of Elora were prophesised to suffer.”
“Silence, Torin,” Fionn hissed.
Torin smiled and gave a mocking salute toward Fionn as he leaned back.
“We summoned you here to stand before the Elorium, not to get lost in this wretched waltz with my brother.” Cillian’s voice was filled with jealousy, and he looked ready to tear Fionn's throat out at any moment, sending a chill down my spine as I hadn’t seen Cillian act like this.
“You're overreacting. You don’t just get to pull me around like a dog on a leash. What is wrong with you, Cillian. Your eyes, are darker than usual?”
He wasn’t listening, it was as if he was possessed.
“Choose me… or fear me. The stars won’t let you do both.” He said as he began to move closer to me, he was angry
“If you are not with me…I can’t protect you.”
Seraphina looked at Fionn and Cillian with unwavering authority .
“Retrieve the Elorium now,” she said, bringing everyone back in line.
“Vareth does not pause his hunt for your petty rivalries, and neither will I. The Order demands obedience, not theatrics.”